Lucida Solar and Cranfield University’s Energy & Power Department collaborate to meet the global need for net-zero carbon industrial processes. The partnership focuses on meeting industrial process heat demands by developing the most reliable, durable, efficient and cost-effective concentrated solar collectors possible. Lucida Solar is an Izmir-based company which focuses on project development and implementation of concentrating solar collectors. Their 2-axis sun tracking parabolic trough collectors have a performance advantage over 1-axis sun tracking collectors currently available on the market. Cranfield University is a postgraduate university which works closely with industrial clients to provide engineering solutions. It houses the only UK research group working exclusively on CSP (concentrating solar power). It has experience of carrying out R&D projects on concentrating solar thermal power systems, solar thermal materials and applications, thermal energy storage, and thermal energy harvesting.

The two partners will work together with their capabilities and expertise in concentrating solar thermal energy field to develop alternative designs and optimise the current product of Lucida Solar. The Cranfield University team, led by Professor Chris Sansom, will optimise the design of the solar collector and absorber components and associated sub-systems. Validation tests will be carried out by Lucida Solar and both partners will analyse the results. The solar collector arrays, together with thermal storage, will provide a despatchable net-zero carbon option for industrial process heat applications.